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Loch Glas
Loch Glass is located in Duilintinn's Draoidh Valley. Its water comes from the Rúnach River, Agrona River, and Gáire River. Its banks are heavily populated on the northeastern edge, with small, rocky cliffs eroded from the Southern Mountains on its southwest. History Found on the southern edge of House Marvin, Loch Glas used to be much, much bigger, filling the entire valley. Many stories and myths are told about why the water levels fell to their current (still massive) span. Some suspect that a Fae Garden might have covered the region at one point for centuries, causing strange nature magic that disappeared when the garden moved. Some tales even speak of a community of Fae Folk that used to live in the underwater region but were forced to leave when the lake became too small. In reality, the answer is quite simpler. When the people of Feadhainn managed to divert the Agrona River, ushering in their golden age of technology and culture, the water that was now being irrigated into the arid Monaidh Plains to feed the growing civilization was no longer flowing into the lake. Over time, the decreased flow from the Agrona River caused the water levels of Loch Glas to slowly drop. Despite this change, Loch Glas is still massive, awe-inspiring, and unimaginably deep. Much like the forest alongside it, no one has ever been able to explore its depths completely. Settlements The lakeside of Loch Glas is the most populated region of House Marvin. Settlements home to mage, inventor, or random civilian alike dot the banks of the lake, not to mention the House's capital city of Monacoil. The water that flows into the lake from the surrounding rivers create beautiful waterfalls and are excellent for running the local mills. The water is perfectly safe to swim in, so long as you don’t venture out too deep for your swimming skills. Whatever once resided in the lake has either been gone for centuries or takes little interest in the mortals living and splashing above. Fort Conchúr enlists the aid of a small, bustling port city on the eastern side of Loch Glas called Athglen for easy and quick access to House Marvin and the forest in the event of an enemy attack (or simple ease of transport). Traveling between this port and the harbor in Monacoil is now one of the safest, most widely-used forms of transportation into and out of the Draoidh Valley for Watchers and civilians alike. Name Origin The lake is called “Glas,” meaning “green,” for the deep blue-green hue reflected from the surrounding trees onto the water’s surface. Real-World Inspiration: Lake Constance, Germany Those aren’t clouds in the background, those are the Alps. If those insanely high mountains seem so small from this distance, how big must this lake be? This is actually PERFECT for Loch Glas. As I’ve been working on the newest map of Duilintinn, the sheer scale of Duilintinn’s landscape has been slowly dawning on me, especially the size of Loch Glas, which is 26 miles wide! Well, I did a bit of detective work to figure out how far away those mountains are in this picture. I’m pretty sure this is Lake Constance (Konstanz) as seen from the city that’s its namesake, so I took some approximate measurements in Google Maps and, incredibly, the distance from Konstanz to the southern edge of the lake is 44 km. 44 km is 27 miles. Loch Glas is 26 miles. HOLY CRAP!?!?! So obviously, this is an incredibly accurate depiction of Loch Glas as seen from its eastern banks. Anyone who’s planning on taking the boat trip from the harbor near Fort Conchúr to Monacoil would likely get this gorgeous view on their way down the valley slope. I don’t know about you guys, but I always imagined the forest-covered mountains rising up high over the banks of Loch Glas, a physical reminder of how geographically isolated Duilintinn is. In reality, those mountains (which I’ve already compared to the Alps) are almost imperceptible until you get closer. It’s another small detail that just goes to show the sheer scale of Loch Glas and Duilintinn as a whole, but personally, I love these sorts of comparisons that allow me to visualize this big, dynamic world I’ve created alongside you all.